Originally Posted by
the_stranger
Just to shine a little light, economists expect that while the economy in Europe will shrink quite a lot this year, it will grow again next year.
Of course this is also just a prediction, but this crisis is not caused by economic factors, like the last one.
I can recall coming across a forecast reduction of GDP of 7,75% in 2020, to be followed by a growth of 6,25% in 2021. So, with some luck, the economy will be back to 2019 levels in 2022. As soon as the plague is more or less sorted, people will forget about their fears relatively quickly. Lack of threat and fear + disposable income = more air travel. And, if demand for air travel will be up again in 2-3 years from now, the era of substandard T&Cs will not be too long.
Of course, there's always the slim possibility of an apocalyptic scenario in which everyone going near an airplane in the foreseeable future will have to wear a full Hazmat suit and stay in a state-monitored quarantine centre for 14 days after arrival, but the consequences of this to the entire world (not just to aviation!) would be so devastating that anything and everything will be done to prevent it from happening.